NELSON] THE DISCONTENTED GRASS PLANT 507 



Looking about, he found some grass, which he wove into a kind of 

 loose mantle, which helped to keep out the cold, after which he saw some 

 reindeer grazing near by and felt a sudden desire to kill and eat one 

 of them. He crept closely on his hands and knees, and springing for 

 ward on the nearest one seized it by the horns and broke its neck with a 

 single effort, threw it over his shoulders, returned, and cast it down near 

 his sleeping place. Then he felt all over the reindeer s body and found 

 that its skin formed a covering which his fingers were unable to pene 

 trate. For a long time he tried to think of a way to remove the skin, 

 and finally noticed a sharp-edge stone, which he picked up and found 

 that he could cut through the skin with it. The deer was quickly 

 skinned, but he felt the lack of a fire with which to cook the flesh. 

 Looking around, he found two round, white stones upon the beach 

 and, striking them together, saw that they gave out numerous sparks. 

 With these and some dry material found along the shore lie succeeded 

 in making a fire, upon which he roasted some of the meat. lie tried 

 to swallow a very large piece of the meat just as he had eaten mice 

 when he was an Owl, but found that he could not do it; then he cut 

 off some small fragments and ate them. Another night passed, and 

 in the morning he caught another reindeer, and the day following two 

 others; both of these last deer he threw over his shoulders, and at once 

 carried them back to his camping place on the shore. Chuii-uh -luk 

 found the nights very cold, so he skinned the last two reindeer and 

 wrapped himself from head to foot in their skins, which dried upon 

 him very soon and became like a part of his body. But the nights 

 grew colder and colder, so that Chun-uh -luk collected a quantity of 

 driftwood along the shore, with which he made himself a rough hut, 

 which was very comfortable. 



After finishing his house he was walking over the hills one day when 

 he saw a strange black animal among some blueberry bushes eating 

 the berries. Chim-iih -luk did not at first know whether he should 

 interfere with this unknown animal or not, but finally he caught it by 

 one of its hind legs. With an angry growl it turned about and faced 

 him, showing its white teeth. In a moment Chuii-uh -luk caught the 

 bear by the coarse hair upon each cheek and swung it over his head, 

 bringing it down to the ground with such force that the bear lay dead; 

 then he threw it across his shoulders and went home. 



In skinning the bear Chuu-uh / -luk found that it contained much fat, 

 and that he might have a light in his house if he could find something 

 to hold the grease, for he had found it very dark inside and trouble 

 some to move about. Going along the beach he found a long, flat stone 

 with a hollow in one surface, and in this the oil remained very well, so 

 that when he had put a lighted moss wick into it he saw that his house 

 was lighted as well as he could wish. 



In the doorway he hung the bearskin to keep out the cold wind which 

 sometimes had come in and chilled him during the night. In this way 



